Facsimile of the first page of Twelfth Night from the First Folio, published in 1623

Synopsis

Orsino and Viola by Frederick Richard Pickersgill

Like many of Shakespeare's comedies, this one centres on mistaken identity. The leading character, Viola, is shipwrecked on the shores of Illyria during the opening scenes. She loses contact with her twin brother, Sebastian, whom she believes dead. Posing as a man and masquerading as a young eunuch under the name Cesario, she enters the service of Duke Orsino. Orsino is in love with the bereaved Lady Olivia, whose brother has recently died, and decides to use "Cesario" as an intermediary. Olivia, believing Viola to be a man, falls in love with this handsome and eloquent messenger. Viola, in turn, has fallen in love with the Duke, who also believes Viola is a man, and who regards her as his confidant.

When Sebastian arrives on the scene, confusion ensues. Mistaking him for Viola, Olivia asks him to marry her, and they are secretly betrothed, with a promise to be married when the time is right. Finally, when the twins appear in the presence of both Olivia and the Duke, there is more wonder and awe at their similarity, at which point Viola reveals she is really a female and that Sebastian is her lost twin brother. The play ends in a declaration of marriage between the Duke and Viola, Toby and Maria, and Olivia and Sebastian, though the marriages do not take place during the play.

Scene from "Twelfth Night," Act III by Francis Wheatley

Maria, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and company convince Malvolio that Olivia is secretly in love with him, and write a letter in Olivia's hand, asking Malvolio to wear yellow stockings cross-gartered, be rude to the rest of the servants, and to smile in all circumstances. Olivia, saddened by Viola's attitude to her, asks for her chief steward, and is shocked by a Malvolio who has seemingly lost his mind. She leaves him to the contrivances of his tormentors.

Pretending that Malvolio is insane, he is locked up in a room (a common "treatment" for the mentally ill), with a slit for light. Feste visits him to mock his "insanity", once disguised as the priest, and again as himself. At the end of the play Malvolio learns of their conspiracy and storms off promising revenge, but the Duke dispatches someone (probably Fabian) to pacify him.

Critical Response

Twelfth Night is noted as one of Shakespeare's most studied and best loved plays: the twin-based comedy of cross-dressing and mistaken identity is accessible to even novice Shakespeare scholars. However, the play has also garnered much critical attention for its nuanced and sometimes elusive treatment of issues of gender, ambition, and love.

Viola is not alone among Shakespeare's cross-dressing heroines; in Shakespeare's theater, convention dictated that adolescent boys play the roles of female characters, creating humor in the multiplicity of disguise found in a female character who for a while pretended at masculinity.^[1] Viola's persistence in transvestism through her betrothal in the final scene of the play often engenders a discussion of the possibly homoerotic relationship between Viola and Orsino. Her impassioned speech to Orsino, in which she describes an imaginary sister who "sat like patience on a monument, / Smiling at grief" for her love, likewise causes many critics to consider Viola's attitude of suffering in her love as a sign of the perceived weakness of the feminine (2.4).

Characters

• Viola, twin sister to Sebastian. She is later called Cesario

Viola is a young woman of aristocratic birth from Messaline, and the play's primary protagonist. She spends the entire play, after the early shipwreck scene, disguised as a young man, "Cesario".

• Orsino, Duke (or Count) of Illyria

Orsino is a powerful nobleman who governs here (either all of Illyria or at least the country round) (1.2). As the play opens, he has been pining for the Lady Olivia.

Olivia (1888) by Edmund Blair Leighton

• Olivia, a countess

Olivia's father and brother have recently died, so she is mistress of her grand house and of whatever else an unattached countess can command. She is in mourning for her brother as the play opens, and uninterested in Orsino's attempt at courtship.

• Sebastian, twin brother to Viola

When Sebastian arrives in Illyria he is constantly mistaken for his sister Viola, who has been going about disguised as a man, called Cesario.

• Maria, a gentlewoman in Olivia's household

Maria is competent, kind, cynical, spirited, and loyal. Though she works for the Lady Olivia, she has come to love Toby over the years, and leads him and Feste in their revenge on Malvolio.

• Sir Toby Belch, a kinsman of Olivia's

Sir Toby is related to Olivia, probably her uncle ("what a plague means my niece..." (1.3)). She puts up with his drinking and rowdy behavior, but does not really care for it.

• Sir Andrew Aguecheek, a companion of Sir Toby's

A rich, but foolish knight from the country who is staying with Toby in hopes of wooing Olivia, but in reality is wasting his money in incessant revelry at Sir Toby's behest.

Malvolio and Olivia, in an engraving by R. Staines after a painting by Daniel Maclise.

• Malvolio, steward to Olivia

Lady Olivia's sour and straitlaced head servant who is at odds with the rest of her household. He is a puritan, and thus disapproves of most of the characters actions (especially Sir Toby and Sir Andrew's).

• Feste

Feste is a jester in Olivia's household. The Fool moves between Olivia's and Orsino's homes, making jokes, singing songs, and cadging coins from those that have them. His name is Latin based, and means trick, practical joke, hoax, or to play a joke on somebody.

• Fabian

Fabian is attached to Olivia's household. He comes in where we expect the character of Feste to come onstage (2.5). As a result, this character seems like an afterthought. But he develops as a character as the play goes on.

• Antonio, captain, a friend to Sebastian.

Antonio rescued Sebastian from the shipwreck. He is much taken with Sebastian, and accompanies him into Illyria, although he is a wanted man there.

• Captain, a sea captain who helps Viola

The captain of the wrecked vessel. He helps Viola by getting her ? in her disguise as "Cesario" ? to Orsino's court.

• Valentine and Curio, gentlemen attending Orsino
• Priest, a Holy Father

The Priest is a minor character, who, in the last scene of the play, admits to having performed the wedding ceremony.

• Servant, a Maid

The Servant is a minor character that works for Olivia.

• Musicians, Lords, Sailors, Officers, and other attendants

Date and text

The full title of Twelfth Night is Twelfth Night, or What You Will. Subtitles for plays were fashionable in the Elizabethan era, but this is the only one of Shakespeare's plays to receive one (although some editors place The Merchant of Venices alternate title, The Jew of Venice, as a subtitle).^[2] "Twelfth Night" is a reference to the twelfth night after Christmas Day, called the Feast of Epiphany. It was originally a Catholic holiday but, prior to Shakespeare's play, had become a day of revelry. Servants often dressed up as their masters, men as women and so forth. This history of festive ritual and Carnivalesque reversal is the cultural origin of the play's confusion. The source story, "Of Apolonius and Silla" appeared in Barnabe Riche's collection, Riche His Farwell to the Militarie Profession (1581), which in turn is derived from a story by Matteo Bandello.^[3] The play was probably finished between 1600 and 1601, and is believed to have drawn extensively on the Italian production Gli Ingannatori (or The Cheats).^[4] The name of its male lead, Orsino, was likely suggested by Virginio Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, an Italian nobleman who visited London in the winter of 1600 to 1601.^[5] The play was not printed until its inclusion in the First Folio in 1623.

Performance

The earliest known performance took place at Middle Temple Hall, one of the Inns of Court, on Candlemas night, 2 February 1602. The only record of the performance is an entry in the diary of the law student John Manningham, who wrote:

Clearly, Manningham enjoyed the Malvolio story most of all, and noted the play's similarity with Shakespeare's earlier play, as well as its relationship with one of its sources, the Inganni plays.

It may have been performed earlier as well, before the Court at Whitehall Palace on Twelfth Night (6 January) of 1601.^[6] Twelfth Night was also performed at Court on Easter Monday, 6 April 1618, and again at Candlemas in 1623.

The play was also one of the earliest Shakespearean works acted at the start of the Restoration; Sir William Davenant's adaptation was staged in 1661, with Thomas Betterton in the role of Sir Toby Belch. Samuel Pepys thought it "a silly play", but saw it three times anyway during the period of his diary (on 11 September 1661, 6 January 1663, and 20 January 1669). Another adaptation, Love Betray'd, or, The Agreeable Disappointment, was acted at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1703.^[7]

After holding the stage only in the adaptations in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the original Shakespearean text of Twelfth Night was revived in 1741, in a production at Drury Lane. In 1820 an operatic version by Frederic Reynolds was staged, with music composed by Henry Bishop. Influential productions were staged in 1912, by Harley Granville-Barker, and in 1916, at the Old Vic.

Lilian Baylis reopened the long-dormant Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1931 with a notable production of the play starring Ralph Richardson as Sir Toby and John Gielgud as Malvolio. The Old Vic Theatre was reopened in 1950 (after suffering severe damage in the London Blitz in 1941) with a memorable production starring Peggy Ashcroft as Viola. Gielgud directed a production at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre with Laurence Olivier as Malvolio and Vivian Leigh playing both Viola and Sebastian in 1955. The longest running Broadway production by far was Margaret Webster's 1941 staging starring Maurice Evans as Malvolio and Helen Hayes as Viola. It ran for 129 performances, more than twice as long as any other Broadway production.

When the play was first performed, all female parts were played by men or boys, but it has been the practice for some centuries now to cast women or girls in the female parts in all plays. The company of Shakespeare's Globe, London, has produced many notable, highly popular all-male performances, and a highlight of their 2002 season was Twelfth Night, with the Globe's artistic director Mark Rylance playing the part of Olivia. This season was preceded, in February, by a performance of the play by the same company at Middle Temple Hall, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the play's premiere, at the same venue.

Adaptations

See also Shakespeare on screen (Twelfth Night).

Stage

Probably due to its themes such as young women seeking independence in a 'man's world', 'gender-bending' and 'same-sex attraction' (albeit in a roundabout way), there have been a number of re-workings for the stage, particularly in musical theater, among them Your Own Thing, a 1968 musical comedy; Play On!, a 1997 jukebox musical featuring the music of Duke Ellington and the setting of the Harlem Renaissance; and All Shook Up, which was not only a very famous song but also a musical comedy featuring many various tracks by the famous rock star Elvis Presley. Another adaptation is Illyria, by composer Pete Mills.

Film

In 1910, Vitagraph Studios released the silent short adaptation Twelfth Night starring actors Florence Turner, Julia Swayne Gordon and Marin Sais.

The 1996 film adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and set in the 19th century, stars Imogen Stubbs as Viola, Helena Bonham Carter as Olivia and Toby Stephens as Duke Orsino. The film also features Mel Smith as Sir Toby, Richard E. Grant as Sir Andrew, Ben Kingsley as Feste, Imelda Staunton as Maria and Nigel Hawthorne as Malvolio.

The 2006 film She's the Man modernises the story as a contemporary teenage comedy (as 10 Things I Hate about You did with The Taming of the Shrew). It is set in a prep school named Illyria and incorporates the names of the play's major characters. For example, Orsino, Duke of Illyria becomes simply Duke Orsino ("Duke" being his forename).

Shakespeare in Love contains several references to Twelfth Night. Near the end of the movie, Elizabeth I asks Shakespeare to write a comedy for the Twelfth Night holiday. Shakespeare's love interest in the film is a young noblewoman named Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow) who disguises herself as a boy to become an actor. She is presented in the final scene of the film as William Shakespeare's "true" inspiration for the heroine of Twelfth Night.

Television

On May 14 1937, the BBC Television Service in London broadcast a thirty-minute excerpt of the play, the first known instance of a work of Shakespeare being performed on television. Produced for the new medium by George More O'Ferrall, the production is also notable for having featured a young actress who would later go on to win an Academy Award ? Greer Garson. As the performance was transmitted live from the BBC's studios at Alexandra Palace and the technology to record television programmes did not at the time exist, no visual record survives other than still photographs.^[8]

The entire play was produced for television in 1939, directed by Michel Saint-Denis and starring another future Oscar-winner, Peggy Ashcroft. The part of Sir Toby Belch was taken by a young George Devine.

Another version for UK television was produced in 1969, directed by John Sichel and John Dexter. The production featured Joan Plowright as Viola and Sebastian, Alec Guinness as Malvolio, Ralph Richardson as Sir Toby Belch and Tommy Steele as an unusually prominent Feste.

Yet another TV adaptation followed in 1980. This version was part of the BBC Television Shakespeare series and featured Felicity Kendal in the role of Viola, Sinead Cusack as Olivia, Alec McCowen as Malvolio and Robert Hardy as Sir Toby Belch.

A 2003 telemovie adapted and directed by Tim Supple is set in the present day. It features David Troughton as Sir Toby, and is notable for its multi-ethnic cast including Parminder Nagra as Viola and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Orsino. Its portrayal of Viola and Sebastian's arrival in Illyria is reminiscent of news footage of asylum seekers.

Influence

Jean-Paul Sartre's wartime political drama, Les Mains Sales, is based in Illyria, an East European country about to be annexed to the Soviet bloc.

The Kiddy Grade characters Viola and Cesario are named for Viola and her alter ego Cesario, respectively.

Elizabeth Hand's novella Illyria features a high school production of Twelfth Night, containing many references to the play, especially Feste's song.

One of Club Penguin's plays, Twelfth Fish, is a spoof of Shakespeare's works. It is a story about a countess, a jester, and a bard who catch a fish that talks. As the play ends, they begin discussing eating the fish. Many of the lines are parodies of Shakespeare.

References

• Caldecott, Henry Stratford: Our English Homer; or, the Bacon-Shakespeare Controversy (Johannesburg Times, 1895).
• Donno, Elizabeth Story (ed.): Twelfth Night, (Cambrdige, 2003).
• Greenblatt, Stephen, et al: The Norton Shakespeare (Norton & Co., 1997).
• Halliday, F. E.: A Shakespeare Companion 1564?1964, (Penguin, 1964).
• Hotson, Leslie: The First Night of Twelfth Night (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1954).
• Mahood, M. M. (ed.) Twelfth Night (Penguin, 1995).
• Pennington, Michael: Twelfth Night: a user's guide (New York, 2000).
• Smith, Bruce R.: Twelfth Night: Texts and Contexts (Bedford St Martin's, 2001).
• Vahimagi, Tise: British Television: An Illustrated Guide (Oxford/British Film Institute, 1994). ISBN 0-19-818336-4.

Notes

External links

• ''Twelfth Night'' on IBDb.com
• 'Twelfth Night' The complete English text.
• Twelfth Night: A Study Guide
• Searchable Twelfth Night Etext Unattributed edited version: bare bones, but with a long summary that is essentially a scene-dump.
• Twelfe Night A cumbersome dump of the Folio version, uncommented.
• Twelfth Night Another dump of the Folio, in a better format. It is not necessarily accurate, though Project Gutenberg does try to enlist proofreaders.
• Twelfth Night Searchable, scene-indexed version of the play.
• Lesson plans for Twelfth Night at Web English Teacher
• Audio of "O Mistress Mine" and other works

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